During the autumn of 2009 Guto Bebb undertook a series of public meetings throughout the constituency. At many of these meetings, and in particular in the Conwy Valley and along the coast the review of primary schools being undertaken by Conwy Council was a major issue. Whilst there was a degree of uncertainty and concern about the accuracy of the facts and figures utilised by Conwy Council there was also a clear welcome to the fact that Conwy were actually undertaking a review and inviting people to express an opinion.

Time and again the concern expressed by parents was that the review in Conwy would end-up being similar to the review undertaken by Plaid Cymru controlled Gwynedd Council where the Council had an agenda, then spent huge amounts of taxpayer cash to undertake a review before announcing closures as originally planned. The fact that Conwy Council, controlled by Plaid and Labour, do not want to confirm the results of the review until after the General Election also creates a degree of suspicion.

However, the biggest disappointment has been the comment by Rhodri Morgan AM who said that we should aim to close 170 rural schools in Wales. Why are Plaid and Labour at the Assembly so unwilling to recognise that these issues should be dealt with at a local level? The real concern that we as a local Conservative Party have is that the review at a local level is a sham, not because Conwy Council are seen as not being genuine but because the Plaid / Labour Assembly continue to insist that any school with less than 90 pupils needs to justify their existence.